Filtronic Buys Isotek For GBP10.7M To Re-Tap Base Station Mkt

30th Jul 2010 08:24

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Electronic component maker Filtronic PLC (FTC.LN) Friday said it has agreed to buy wireless telecommunications products company Isotek (Holdings) Ltd. in a cash and share deal worth GBP10.7 million, so it can re-enter the market for base stations. Filtronic will pay GBP4.35 million in cash for Isotek and offer 18,550,000 new Filtronic shares which, based on Thursday's closing price of 34.35 pence a share. The deal is expected to be earnings-enhancing in fiscal 2012, Filtronic said, and is expected to boost fiscal year 2012 sales by about GBP15 million. Isotek's latest intellectual property capitalizes on strong growth of third-generation and fourth-generation related mobile data traffic, Filtronic said, and it thinks this is a big competitive advantage. Base stations communicate with mobile phones, palmtop computers and portable computers connecting a subscriber into the system. The U.K.'s major mobile operators typically operate thousands of base stations across the country, mainly in large urban areas. Filtronic exited that market in 2006 when it sold off the part of its business that made transmission filters, integrated remote radio heads and power amplifier products for use in commercial wireless infrastructure base station equipment, after the market stagnated. At that time it agreed that it wouldn't compete with its old business for three years but now wants to transform the range and size of its business. -By Hannah Benjamin, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9298; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 30, 2010 03:24 ET (07:24 GMT)